This blog is dedicated for testing recent paragliders and flying gear.

Monday, September 19, 2016

OZONE (Luc Armant) interview

Questionnaire for OZONE R&D designer and Team pilot Luc Armant.

1-Ziad : A new concept of gliders with many cells is emerging with low
and high aspect ratio. What are your thoughts about this concept?
Especially on moderate aspect ratio gliders ?

Luc Armant: The idea from Nova of proposing a glider for richer
intermediate pilot is making fully sense. Any other serious mechanical
sport industry is having such product. I have no idea what size is that
market for paragliders. High cell number concept: for sure things are
not simple like the higher the better. Zeno versus Enzo2 is a nice
example showing that not only cell number count (78 vs 101). Not enough
cells is not good and too much is not good too, even for performances.
What we have experimented is that there is an optimum number of cell for
a given design, and that optimum can be very different from one design
to another.

2-Ziad : Almost every pilot is talking about the Zeno… The Manual is
clear. Since you have flown both now, many pilots would like to know the
difference in flying demands and feeling compared to the M6 and the
Enzo 2. Can you also elaborate on brake response and dynamism?

Luc Armant: Flying demand and comfort is much closer to M6 than Enzo2. I
still find that the M6 is a good wing, relatively safe, performant and
without bugs, but the Zeno has more character, is more pleasurable, more
exciting to fly. All that is without talking about the gain in
performances.
Gliding on the side of an M6 or any other END wing, gives you an extra
blast. Brake pressure is much lighter than M6. That’s my favorite brake
pressure, and you kind of feel the thermal through your fingers a bit
like on the Delta2. It can answer fast to roll input and turn in tiny
radius with still nice climbing efficiency.

3- Ziad : Now that the Zeno is finished, any news on the Delta 3 project?

Luc Armant: No news yet, apart from the fact we are still working on
that project, amongst other projects. But for sure the longest project
ever in ozone !

4-Ziad : I know you already answered the following question but just to
answer some pilots questions…Will OZONE see an advantage of building a
high cell count on a Delta 3 for example? Or a Rush 5 ?

Luc Armant: Ozone will not see an advantage of building D3 or R5 with more cells than optimum for their design.
We try to build product with only necessary stuff.
It does not mean than the Delta3 will have 20 cells only !!!

5- Ziad: Some pilots said that the M6 and Enzo
tendency to cravat are high after a collapse ,So did you make any
re-arrangement for the Zeno design ,not to have cravats? or may be
less...
Any comments?

Luc Armant: I’m not sure about that comment. And I would need to know
what sort of cravat they are talking about. Pilots use the word cravats
for many different things.
After collapses, sometimes the M6 or the Enzo2 does a small wing tip knot that you can remove by pulling the stabilo line.
I did not make special arrangement but the Zeno is not cravatting easily. For that reason we decided to remove the stabilo line.
Like on any wing, depending on the air and your piloting, you can have a
collapse going to the front (sideways air flow), resulting in the
collapsed part of the wing blocked by the air flow in front of the
lines. But in that case usually two or three deep asymmetric pumping is
enough.

6- Ziad: Anything you want to add concerning the future of glider design?

Luc Armant: Like always, I can only talk about present and past. The future is still to be created.

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GLIDE MEASUREMENTS ! NUMBERS and obsession !!! :-)

Looking at the glide numbers, is like seeing a beautiful food dish just before tasting it ....Knowing that all measurements are made in calm air(no thermals), and in those conditions we practicably "don't" fly.Thermal flying and transitions are made in moving air,and in those conditions a glider can change from its good performance on paper to less performance in real air and the opposite also.

Glider X that has a glide of 8.5 on paper, could reach the other side much higher than glider Y that have a glide of 9.0 on paper.Why? Because the ability of glider X in head wind glides and moving air is much better than glider Y in converting those bumps to lift and still moving forward ,rather than ,when hitting those lifts glider Y stops and dive loosing the glide.

Glide measurements are pure marketing ,but they still are interesting in putting some spices under the pilots nose ;-) .

Glides wingtip to wingtip in different conditions will show gliders ability much better.And that's why i do the videos.May be we should have a coefficient in efficiency rather than a poor "glide number" on paper. ;-)

BEST GLIDER

Comparisons are only to get an idea what the glider will be and feel like.Some like it soft on the brakes ,others find it too jumpy...But the best glider is the one that each individual pilot will have the most fun with.For some it could be the glider that out-climb or out-glide your club mates....But for most ,it is the one that will give you a smile and a satisfying happy feeling immediately after you land.That's the glider you must choose.So there is no best glider rather than best feeling for a glider.Fly SAFE,Ziad.